The Beatles have been the subject of countless books and films, but that doesn’t mean we’ve seen everything there is to see about the Fab Four. Case in point: ‘The Beatles: On the Road 1964-1966,’ a lavish new collection of photos taken by legendary photographer Harry Benson during the band’s early years.

On this spring morning fifty years ago, Brian Epstein climbed the front steps and passed through the simple entrance of the EMI Recording Studios in St. John’s Wood, London, placing him on the other side of the looking glass. As a retailer, he had sold recordings made in these studios by Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Thomas Beecham, and, more recently, Cliff Richard and the Shadows. The neophyte manager of the Beatles now eagerly anticipated the possibility of watching through the control room window as his “boys” joined that exclusive club.